Next APSU coach needs to focus relationships, community

Attendees to Thursday's "Business After Hours" were able to watch the end of Austin Peay's football practice while they ate and mingled with officials, business leaders and fans. The Club Level is part of the $20 million renovations to Governors Stadium, part of which was paid through guarantee games.(Photo: Autumn Allison/The Leaf-Chronicle)Buy Photo

With the dismissal of Cannon, Austin Peay has a lot to consider over the next few weeks, and not a lot of time to do it if they want to meet the Dec. 15 deadline set by Ivey.

But as the resumes trickle in, the most important thing that needs to be considered is that a new coach is not a fix-all — the APSU football program had problems before Cannon and if they're not addressed, they will continue to exist.

This next coach needs to be experienced and charismatic with passion and energy to spare, as Ivey said of a possible candidate, but they also need to be great at building relationships — internally and externally.

Because Austin Peay needs support to continue as a program with promise.

Throughout the season, home game attendance has been poor. Some games there were sections on the home side that held only five fans at most, in a stadium that can hold 10,000.

And it seems for every adamant supporter, there are a few who say the program is a waste, needs to drop down to a less competitive conference or even be wiped out completely.

Without better support within the community for the program, Austin Peay football is always going to have dismal attendance records.

After all, what’s a nice, shiny stadium good for if you can’t get butts in the bleachers?

There are potential problems with the roster as well. In theory, the new coach would be in charge of a program filled with experienced players with at least a season or two left in their eligibility to start the process. But coaching changes often bring about roster turnover and there were a number of players upset with Cannon’s dismissal.

If the next coach can’t keep the young talent on the roster along with those who have verbally committed, he will be in a difficult situation of his own.

Now maybe some of those players would be better fits elsewhere, or perhaps those considering transferring are doing it for other reasons. But it doesn’t change the fact that the next coach has a lot of work to do to rally a loaded team around him before they can start bringing home wins on the field.

Even with a coaching change, Austin Peay is a program that is in rebuild mode, and has been for a long time. No matter who the new coach is, or his resume or even the recommendations he comes with, none of those attributes are going to speed that up.

But he can certainly make strides toward it.

Full Court Press is a weekly sports analytical column that focuses on the ins-and-outs of Austin Peay athletics but can also feature other aspects of sports and national storylines.